SYSTEMS-BASED NEUROTECHNOLOGY FOR EMERGING THERAPIES (SUBNETS)
Military personnel control sophisticated systems, experience extraordinary stress, and are subject to injury of the brain. To address these challenges, DARPA pursues innovative neurotechnology and advanced understanding of the brain using a multidisciplinary approach that combines data processing, mathematical modeling, and novel interfaces. The Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program is part of a broader portfolio of programs within DARPA that support President Obama’s brain initiative.
SUBNETS was created in response to a pressing need. Despite the continued best efforts of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to protect the health of U.S. servicemembers and veterans, the effects of neuropsychological illness brought on by war, traumatic injuries, and other experiences remain challenging to treat. Current approaches—surgery, medications, and psychotherapy—can often help to alleviate the worst effects of these illnesses, but they are imprecise and not universally effective.
SUBNETS is distinct from current therapeutic approaches as it seeks to develop the ability to create a closed-loop diagnostic and therapeutic system. Through the development of new neurotechnology for measuring pathways involved in complex, systems-based brain disorders such as depression, compulsion, debilitating impulse control, and chronic pain, SUBNETS will attempt to establish the capability to record and model how these systems function. SUBNETS will then use these models to determine appropriate therapeutic stimulation methodologies. These models will be adapted onto next-generation, closed-loop neural interfaces that exceed currently developed capacities for simultaneous stimulation and recording and provide research investigators, clinicians, and human research participants with the ability to record, analyze, and stimulate multiple brain regions for therapeutic purposes.
The SUBNETS approach is directed to advance neuropsychiatry beyond the realm of dialogue-driven observations and into the realm of therapy driven by quantifiable characteristics of neural state. In doing so, SUBNETS would create one of the most comprehensive datasets of systems-based brain activity ever recorded. If successful, SUBNETS will lead to informed and precise neurotechnological therapy to produce major improvements in quality of life for servicemembers and veterans with neuropsychological illness who have very few options with existing therapies.
SUBNETS and related DARPA neuroscience efforts are informed and advised by an Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) panel. ELSI panelists supplement the oversight provided by DARPA and DoD internal review boards that govern human and animal use.
Military personnel control sophisticated systems, experience extraordinary stress, and are subject to injury of the brain. To address these challenges, DARPA pursues innovative neurotechnology and advanced understanding of the brain using a multidisciplinary approach that combines data processing, mathematical modeling, and novel interfaces. The Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program is part of a broader portfolio of programs within DARPA that support President Obama’s brain initiative.
SUBNETS was created in response to a pressing need. Despite the continued best efforts of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to protect the health of U.S. servicemembers and veterans, the effects of neuropsychological illness brought on by war, traumatic injuries, and other experiences remain challenging to treat. Current approaches—surgery, medications, and psychotherapy—can often help to alleviate the worst effects of these illnesses, but they are imprecise and not universally effective.
SUBNETS is distinct from current therapeutic approaches as it seeks to develop the ability to create a closed-loop diagnostic and therapeutic system. Through the development of new neurotechnology for measuring pathways involved in complex, systems-based brain disorders such as depression, compulsion, debilitating impulse control, and chronic pain, SUBNETS will attempt to establish the capability to record and model how these systems function. SUBNETS will then use these models to determine appropriate therapeutic stimulation methodologies. These models will be adapted onto next-generation, closed-loop neural interfaces that exceed currently developed capacities for simultaneous stimulation and recording and provide research investigators, clinicians, and human research participants with the ability to record, analyze, and stimulate multiple brain regions for therapeutic purposes.
The SUBNETS approach is directed to advance neuropsychiatry beyond the realm of dialogue-driven observations and into the realm of therapy driven by quantifiable characteristics of neural state. In doing so, SUBNETS would create one of the most comprehensive datasets of systems-based brain activity ever recorded. If successful, SUBNETS will lead to informed and precise neurotechnological therapy to produce major improvements in quality of life for servicemembers and veterans with neuropsychological illness who have very few options with existing therapies.
SUBNETS and related DARPA neuroscience efforts are informed and advised by an Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) panel. ELSI panelists supplement the oversight provided by DARPA and DoD internal review boards that govern human and animal use.